Kyoko's Eventful Three Days!
by happyunderground
Summary: Kyoko and Ren will be separated for three days, huh? Guess it's time for Kyoko's life to get turned upside down. T for language, might go to M for a lemon later on. Set after Chapter 218.
1. First Day

**While this story takes place after chapter 218, I _totally_ forgot about Chiori's manager getting hurt, and about Kyoko going with Chiori to filming the next day. Trying to write a fic based on a particular chapter is tough. I hope you enjoy it though!**

* * *

"…"

"…"

"…"'

"Hello?" Kanae answered.

"Moko-saaan!" Kyoko wailed into the phone. Behind her, several of the nurses eyed her cautiously and carried on. The orange-haired teenager had been fidgeting awkwardly in the corner, staring at her phone, for nearly fifteen minutes before finally calling.

Kanae pinched the bridge of her nose. "What? What is it that you have to call in the middle of the day?"

"Chiori was in a car accident! I'm at the hospital! And then we had a heart-to-heart about acting and I want to tell you about it!"

At these words, Kanae stopped in her tracks, eyes wide. "What?! What happened?"

"Well, she'd been avoiding the variety shows because it didn't suit her acting, so we had a good talk about how—"

"Not that, the first part! She was in a car accident?"

"Oh, yes, a car accident, Moko-san! When someone is in a car, and something happens—!"

"I _know_ that, but—is she okay?" Kanae clenched her eyes shut, not wanting to let her annoyance get the best of her. She _knows_ what a car accident is.

"Eh? Oh, hai!"

Kanae sighed with relief and frustration. Couldn't Kyoko have mentioned that bit of news earlier?

"But, nee, Moko-san…"

"What? What is it now?"

In the corner of the hospital, Kyoko balances the phone between her shoulder and her ear, drops to her knees, and clenches her hands before her in prayer to the Great Friendship Gods.

"Please have a girls' night with us tonight!"

"Ehhh?!"

* * *

And so it came to be that the LoveMe girls were supposed to meet at L.A. Hearts, the cute café adjoining LME's first level, once Kyoko and Chiori ended filming for Box R. Kanae, though she was loathe to admit it, was actually free for the entire day. Suspecting the kind of affectionate, sugary, friendship-forming activities that were sure to spring up tonight, she had jogged for 6 miles so that she wouldn't have to war between Kyoko's puppy eyes (while undoubtedly holding an ice cream sundae) and her internal calorie counter.

Kanae waited at a booth Kyoko had reserved for them, snapping her phone open and closed, staring at the glass doors where her two best friends would ultimately appear. Her eyes twitched slightly when she realized she'd admitted that they _are_ her two best friends, but the annoyance didn't last long. Kyoko had been off filming for a long time, and Chiori had been wrapped up in her own mysterious filming, and she was concerned about the car accident. Chiori had already suffered an accident when she was a child actor and was _still_ suffering from it.

_I should be worrying about myself, though,_ she huffed. Kanae's biggest filming prospect was set to start tomorrow morning. Reminded of the cast and crew listed in the script, she wondered if she could ask Kyoko if the name Mogami Saena meant anything to her. From what Kanae knew about Kyoko's family, there weren't any relatives she'd be happy to see.

Shaking her head, Kanae redoubled her focus on the glass doors just as the two girls made their way into view, Kyoko laughing while accidentally pushing on the doors instead of pulling. Surprising herself with what was probably a very sweet smile at the sight, Kanae quickly reworked her face and stood up from the booth.

"Mo! You're late!" Kanae chided, even though it probably wasn't even true.

"Moko-san!" Kyoko ran towards Kanae, Chiori following with the indulgent smile of a parent at a candy store.

Allowing herself to get swept into the hug, Kanae huffed slightly before taking a deep breath and carefully placing her arms around Kyoko.

Sure enough, Kyoko tightened the hug in excitement and Kanae was thankful for the lungful of air. Chiori sent her an understanding, grimacing smile while stretching out her shoulders a little. Surely Kyoko had fallen into hug-mode once she realized it wouldn't threaten Chiori's injury.

Deciding that fifteen seconds of contact was long enough for the girl to have gotten it out of her system, Kanae pushed Kyoko off with a blush and a scowl.

"Glad you're finally back," Kanae muttered.

"Un!" Kyoko beamed.

Kanae turned and headed back to the booth, while Chiori followed and Kyoko wandered off to the host desk to ask for a waiter.

Glancing over at Chiori, and the bandage around her neck, Kanae quickly reached out for the girl, catching her in a quick and awkward hug. "I'm relieved you're okay, too," Kanae admitted, looking away from Chiori.

Surprised, Chiori nonetheless smiled at Kanae's back while she hopped up into the booth. "Thank you," she returned. _Looks like someone's rubbed off on you._ Scooting up into the booth as Kyoko returned, the three girls relaxed and started to catch up the past few weeks that they'd spent apart.

"What about you, Kyoko? You haven't said much about the _dangerous mission_ the president sent you on."

Kyoko immediately reddened. Even though she had been prepared to have this conversation with her friends, for some reason the risqué night she spent—_no, that Setsu spent —_with Cain—_on top of Cain_—immediately came to her mind. Trying to avert her eyes, they nonetheless noticed the dessert spoons served with the ice cream sundaes, reminding her of Ren on Valentine's Day.

Ridding her mind of such thoughts, especially in the presence of her wonderful friends, Kyoko clenched her eyes closed and clasped her hands together again in prayer to the Friendship Gods, still holding the dessert spoon. "I promise, promise, promise I will tell you both someday! I swear on my life as an actress! But…for now…it's secret," she finished lamely, looking down at the table.

Both Kanae and Chiori raised an eyebrow at each other. Kanae then shrugged. "A job's a job, right? So long as he's not making you do something unreasonable."

"Ah…hai."

Chiori noticed the deflation of her cheeriest friend with concern. "Kyoko-chan, are you okay? Do you want to go home?"

Kyoko glanced up, a bit of fire relit in her eyes. "Never! I haven't seen you two in what feels like ages!" Now that she was smiling again, the two other girls relaxed. "Plus, Amamiya-san, after what you just went through, I really want to try to cheer you up a little."

Kanae twirled her spoon in her sundae, trying to spin it fifty times before taking another bite, in order to pace herself. "So, what do you have planned for the night?"

The table was silent. Kanae glanced up from her measured spoon handling to see Kyoko nervously glancing at her with the most shining, hopeful, pitiful puppy eyes yet.

Kanae pinched the bridge of her nose again, closing her eyes. "Let me guess, a sleepover…?"

The shine in Kyoko's eyes seemed to pour out into the air, and even without looking at her, Kanae felt their effect.

"Okay. Okay! Let me just…see who's home tonight."

As Kanae started to pull out her cellphone amidst cheers, fanfare suddenly started to play throughout the restaurant.

Glancing up, Kanae found Chiori and Kyoko equally confused as they looked around the restaurant. Other guests, mostly managers and their charges, looked around in confusion.

Then, suddenly, everyone remembered they worked at LME.

The president made his entrance through a rotating bookshelf on the opposite wall. Guests nearby quickly scampered out of the way as an enormous, white, puffy cloud seemed to float into the room with Lory Takarada on top of it.

Suspicious, Kanae glanced at the bottom of the cloud to see a dozen pairs of feet sliding in unison. Realizing that the president probably had a staff of workers for this exact purpose, Kanae shuddered in relief that her LoveMe tasks didn't involve carrying a half-naked old man around.

Laughing magnanimously from his perch, Lory, dressed as Cupid today, readied an arrow and aimed it into the crowd. When it landed on the LoveMe girls' table, all three girls gulped and pitying glances were aimed at them from throughout the room before everyone hurriedly turned away from the sight.

A person-sized cloud moved up towards the president's perch, and the president gracefully moved to sit upon the cloud's no-doubt shoulders. Kanae grimaced. _Definitely could've gotten into a worse department._

Lory Takarada approached the girls atop his mount. "My loveliest rosebuds! A little bee told me that you girls are in need of bonding tonight, for you have reunited despite dire circumstances!"

Immediately, the dark-haired girls looked at Kyoko, who scratched the back of her head, admitting quietly, "I may have gotten a little carried away when I made the reservation for our booth…"

"And so **I**," Lory interrupted, booming, "have decided to send my blossoming princesses out for a night on the town!"

"Um, no, President, you don't have to…" Chiori tried to say, fearful as she was of this wildly eccentric man.

"And you shall do it," Lory continued, "as a LoveMe task! For which I shall secretly observe you and grade you in your friendship-love!"

Kanae facepalmed while Chiori laughed uncomfortably and Kyoko just looked apologetic. Hopefully no one had to work early tomorrow…

* * *

Three hours later, the girls had had enough. The president hadn't even needed to threaten them with a "secret observer"; Sebastian had insisted on chaperoning them the entire time. This guy was impossible to dodge! (If you had to keep tabs on and keep up with the president, you'd have to be.)

Still, as he dropped them off at Kanae's place and they bowed goodnight, the girls all shared common smiles. They had to admit it was definitely the most fun night they'd had in a long time. They'd been sent to an imperial-era style restaurant for dinner (to please Kyoko), a Victorian gothic-era themed dancing hall for dancing lessons (which Chiori loved, but didn't even realize had been aimed at her), and finally an upscale metro bar that served low-calorie desserts in cocktail glasses (that even Kanae admitted was a do-again). While they didn't have real alcohol at the bar, all three girls felt a little intoxicated with the evening's events.

Motioning behind her to "shush", Kanae carefully creaked the door open, fearing what would happen if the household woke up at this time of night. To her surprise, the lights were totally off in the house, and Kanae spotted a simple note left on the counter.

"_We won tickets to stay at a resort! For all eight of us! Can you imagine the odds?!_

_Oh. Sorry we didn't invite you! Enjoy having the house to yourself! :)__"_

Kyoko and Chiori, who read the note over Kanae's shoulder, giggled to themselves at the president's efforts, while Kanae just rubbed her temple and sighed.

"Okay girls, even if we have the house to ourselves, we are going to bed _now_. I am not going to lose any sleep because of that guy's antics."

Nodding while still suppressing giggles, Kyoko and Chiori agreed, and the three settled down for the night.

Once Kanae was sure Chiori was asleep (who really needed rest the most at that point), she whispered, "Hey Kyoko?"

"What is it, Moko-san?"

Kanae shifted in her covers to face Kyoko. "Nothing happened while you were filming, right? Nothing weird happened?"

Kyoko again thought of Ren. Blushing in the darkness, Kyoko decided that even if she eventually told her friends about Tragic Marker, she would be too embarrassed to talk about some of the _acting_ she did as Setsu. Remembering something she _could_ talk about, however, she turned to Kanae's voice with a smile.

"Well… I _did_ have my first kiss!" Kyoko whispered with glee.

"What?!" Kanae did not whisper at this point, and Chiori sat straight up, her hair a mess.

"Zha happen?" Chiori mumbled.

"Kyoko had her first kiss!"

"What?!" Chiori shouted.

"It was with my fairy prince, Corn!" Kyoko admitted with excitement, happy to have an audience, and to have such a happy story to share.

Silence filled the room as Kyoko waited for a response.

"I'm going back to bed," Chiori muttered as she settled back in to sleep.

Within a minute or two, when her breathing had evened out, Kanae sighed and rubbed her temple in frustration. Still, she was curious. "With your fairy prince?"

"I met him when I was a child. He was always there for me, even when no one else was. And he could fly! And we ruled the hamburger kingdom together. But…he was trapped in his father's shadow, and so he couldn't really fly… The kiss that he gave me, it supposedly broke the curse. And he flew off into the sunset, I swear!"

Kanae couldn't help but smile. She was glad that Kyoko had had her first kiss, even though she was 100% certain that this was all in Kyoko's imagination. Still, if it helped cover up the fact that that _asshole_ had stolen her kiss on Valentine's Day, she had to support Kyoko's subconscious, overactive imagination. Still, it really sounded like a perfect, romantic fairytale, just like Kyoko needed…

"Although what I can't get my head around is that, well… Kanae, he had to borrow someone's appearance in order to stand in front of me, since I could no longer see his true form…"

Kanae "hmm"ed in response, still thinking about how Tsuruga probably wished he could've planned such an elaborate event to steal her first kiss and make her believe in romance again. What with that rose and that phony story, he was definitely the type to indulge her…

"Well, he looked _exactly_ like Tsuruga-san, but with blonde hair, and green eyes. It's…confusing…" Kyoko admitted sleepily, not bothering to stifle a yawn.

Next to her, Kanae was stiff. _What?_ So she ran into a guy that looked just like Tsuruga-san, and he _just so happened_ to have an elaborate fairy-tale story in place in order to steal her first kiss? Her eyes narrowed.

"Oh!" Kyoko suddenly sat up. Thinking that she had come to the same shaky conclusion Kanae had, Kanae was surprised that Kyoko had managed to figure it out. She was awfully dense sometimes.

Instead, Kyoko muttered, "Um, I wanted to check in on Tsuruga-san. To make sure he, um, ate dinner…" As Kyoko fumbled for her phone in the dark, Kanae closed her eyes and laughed. _No, of course she wouldn't think that. That's why he would've done it in disguise, right? To make it a fairy-tale with a magical prince, instead of admitting his real feelings, as a real man._

"Whatever," Kanae said. "I'm going to bed."

"Okay," Kyoko whispered back. "I missed you, Moko-san! Thank you for having this sleepover with us!"

Kanae smiled in the dark, her back towards Kyoko as Kyoko used her phone's light to guide her towards the bathroom.

Sighing as she closed the door and slid her back down against it, Kyoko opened her phone to check the time. It was only an hour later in Guam, and in Tokyo it was… 9:43. Kyoko closed her phone, deciding it was too late to call, and then nervously opened it again, wanting to hear his voice. She suppressed a blush and looked at the faded ink on her hand. _He gave me this so I wouldn't call, right? He doesn't want me to bug him. I kinda…want to tell him I landed safely. And that Chiori was in an accident! And…I'll skip the part about Sho. And maybe mention that the president sent us on a girls' night as a LoveMe mission! Maybe that would make him laugh?_

Kyoko decided on calling him, and scrunched her eyes shut as she pressed the call button and held the phone to her ear. Opening her eyes in shock, she snapped her phone shut. _Wait! He's _Cain Heel _right now, why would _Mogami Kyoko_ be calling him? What if my name shows up on his cellphone while he's out…with…people… _Realizing that Cain Heel would never willingly spend the night in the company of others, Kyoko felt a sense of relief, but then stopped immediately. _What if… he's with someone?_ Her heart ached. While she was with him, Ren was either in-character, doting on his sister, or he was the perfect gentleman. Or _close_ to the perfect gentleman. Kyoko's eyes fell downcast as she remembered him definitely acting like…someone else…someone hurting and in need of comfort. What if he was in the company of some woman now that she was gone, giving him the comfort she couldn't…?

Kyoko shook her head. _It's just… Setsu's jealousy. That's all_. She couldn't quite deal with her feelings right now. Pressing her empty hand to the floor, she was about to raise herself from the ground when her phone started vibrating in her other hand. Looking at the front screen immediately, Kyoko's face moved to a sweet, relieved smile at the name on the screen. _Tsuruga Ren._

* * *

Ren had had an uneventful day filming. He had a better grasp on his characters as both Cain Heel and BJ, thanks to the stability Kyoko had provided him in the few short days they had spent together.

_Uneventful, uneventful, uneventful. _Even though it was just one day, it helped him realize that a role was a role, a job was a job, and a life without Kyoko was hardly a life at all. Even with the challenges and successes of a mysterious role, rising to the challenge wasn't enough to satisfy him like it did before. Even when he was back in Japan, a day spent filming could very often contain the hope that he would see her, in the hallways at work—or in his hallway at home, waiting outside of his apartment…

Ren turned over on the mattress, relishing the thought of Kyoko coming to see him. He ignored the fact that she would be there to make sure he ate healthily. Or maybe he wanted to pretend she did it because she was worried about him. _Maybe,_ he blushed, _she could just make me bentos every morning, after..._ Ren cleared his throat to get a grip on himself.

He was lying on the mattress in the hotel room. Kyoko's bed was still neatly made by her or the housekeeping (Ren couldn't tell), and was completely empty. The whole hotel room felt empty.

_Get a grip. Get some sleep,_ he told himself.

As he was lying there, trying to get some shuteye, he recalled their last conversation. The way he told her he would live as "your me", he swore there was a reaction in her expressive eyes, but she hid it so quickly. Was he seeing things? He wouldn't put it past himself. It was…lonely here, without her, and when she _was_ there he was filled with longing. Dwelling on it now would just make it worse.

_It's fine. It's fine. Even if she can't return my feelings, so long as I can be by her side…_

_I wonder what she's doing now?_ He glanced at the clock, unable to help himself. It was 10:40. _She was probably getting ready for bed. She probably…didn't think of me today, even if I tried to leave a mark…_

Shaking his head into his pillow, Ren was about to cover his whole head with another pillow when his phone rang.

Reaching out for it like lightning, a heavenly smile crossed his face when he saw the name on the screen. _Mogami Kyoko_. He should've changed it to _Setsu Heel_ for the duration of the filming, he chastised himself. Still, he couldn't help the smile stretching his face so wide as he stared at the screen…and then the screen went blank.

Letting out a small laugh, he rolled onto his back and pictured her so perfectly. _She's probably too nervous that she'll be interrupting my character and hung up. Or that I'm asleep. Kyoko, I'd…wake up to you, any time of night…_

Clearing his throat again in a vain attempt to wipe the smile from his features (since it will clearly show in his voice), Ren opened his phone and called her back.

"…Tsuruga-san? Is that you?"

Despite his preventative measures, the smile was back, in full force. "Yes, Mogami-san. It's me."

"I'm sorry to have called you so late!" he could hear her bow. "Were you sleeping?"

Ren stretched out, his back flat against the bed, and rested his arm under his head. "No, this is fine. I haven't done anything but lie in bed since I got out of filming."

Silence. Ren pulled the phone away from his ear and glanced at it, fearful that this treasured contact would be cut short already. "Mogami-san?"

"…you mean, you haven't done anything but _eat_ and lie in bed, right, nee-san?"

_Ah. Setsu's here._ He ignored it. "Mogami-san, I'm perfectly capable of eating. I had rice. I can take care of myself, you know."

Kyoko huffed over the phone. "I'll believe that when I see it. Knowing you, you won't eat right until you're back in Japan."

"Knowing you, you'll be the one to cook for me."

Another silence. "Knowing Yashiro, you are probably correct," Kyoko said quietly.

Ren smiled. "I look forward to it, Mogami-san. I could eat your cooking for the rest of my life."

Another silence. _Was that too forward?_ Ren glanced at the phone again to make sure she was still there, but didn't say anything, instead listening intently.

"Well, at least when you get back, I guess I can… If you don't mind…" _Was that a smile? Do I hear a smile in her voice?_ Ren relaxed, allowing himself the indulgence of believing she was smiling at the thought of cooking for him. "But until then, too! You need to eat properly! Three times a day, I tell you!" Ren winced.

"Yes, sure, Mogami-san." Ren cleared his throat again, hoping to change topics. "How was your day, anyway? Did anything happen?"

Silence. _This girl is going to be the death of me_. "Well…" Kyoko started. Ren's eyes darkened as a certain blonde flashed into his mind. A certain blonde that always seemed to show up whenever Ren wasn't around to guard Kyoko. Really, he should ask Yashiro to befriend the brat's manager so he could keep tabs on him. _Too far, Ren. Yashiro would never let you live it down, either._

"Mogami-san…" Ren started.

"Chiori-san was in an accident."

Ren's eyes opened wide, ashamed for assuming she had met up with that punk. "Amamiya-san was? Is she okay?"

"Yes," Kyoko answered. "Thankfully. It was so scary though, Tsuruga-san, I was so worried."

Ren's eyes closed again in relief. "I'm glad to hear that she's okay. I'm sorry you were scared." _I wish I was there._

"Un. I'm honestly scared to learn how to drive, Tsuruga-san. It just seems so dangerous."

Thinking of a darker accident, Ren couldn't help but agree. "It is. Please be careful when you're on your bike too, Mogami-san. Try to call me for rides whenever you can, I'm always here for you." Silence. _You're too forward tonight, Ren._ He cleared his throat. "Well, I'm glad she's okay. Is she going to take time off of filming?"

"No, actually, the doctor said she's fine. And she did agree to widen her acting roles now, which is great news."

"That _is_ great news."

"And, another good thing did happen because of the accident."

Ren's eyebrow rose at the quiet excitement in her voice. "Oh?"

"Yes, the, uh, the President threw us a girls' night in celebration of our reunion."

Ren couldn't help but chuckle into the phone. He heard Kyoko laugh quietly as well. "Well, that sounds like a blast. I'm sure you're awfully tired now."

"I am," she answered. He could hear the contentment in her voice. She yawned, and he leaned his head back, deep into the pillow, pressing the sound of her into his ear as he tried to imagine she was on the next bed over, readying herself for bed.

"Well, thank you for calling, Mogami-san."

"Thank you for calling me back, Tsuruga-san."

"Always. Good night, get some rest for tomorrow. I'll see you in two days."

"Thank you, Tsuruga-san. Good night."

Ren closed his phone and drifted off into a blissful dreamland, mentally repeating the sound of her smiling voice until it morphed into _Good night, Ren,_ and he imagined the source of it tucked into the crook of his arm, snuggling into him.

* * *

_RING! RING! RING!_

Kanae, with the quickest reflexes, reached out and snapped the phone open. "What?!" she barked.

No one responded and Kanae started to wake up. From the feel of it in her hands, Kanae realized the shape of the phone was off—it must be Kyoko's—and she realized who this must be. "Look, Tsuruga-san, get your act together! She's sleeping! And you'd better sleep too to prepare yourself for the beating I'm going to give you for interrupting an actress' beauty sleep—!"

"HEY!" came the angry shout over the phone. Kanae opened her eyes, realizing the voice did not belong to Japan's number one bachelor.

Moving the phone away from her face even as the voice continued, Kanae looked at the number: Blocked Caller. Pulling the phone back to her ear, Kanae interrupted, "Who is this?"

"It's Sho! Where's Kyoko?!"

Kanae's fuse lit back up again. "Mo! What the hell are you doing calling her late at night? Who do you think you are?"

"Who the hell do you think _you_ are, you bitch! _I'm_ her best friend! And I need to know where she is! And why would _he_ be calling—"

"Oh yeah?" Kanae fumed, sensing the rousing of the two girls near her, "Well right now she's sleeping next to _me_, her real BEST FRIEND! On what _planet_ are you anything but a thorn in her side? Now shut the _hell_ up and don't call her again!"

Kanae slammed the phone shut and huffed while burying herself back into bed. Realizing that she wasn't going to say anything on her own, Kyoko prompted her, "Moko-san? Who was that?"

"Nobody! Go to bed!"

* * *

**Well, there you have it. My first Skip Beat chapter fic. I had been wanting to write a Skip Beat fanfiction for a long time, and when I finally sat down to write one I didn't stop for five hours. This story will probably be around three chapters long, and I've already got the next one written up… I'm struggling with the third because, of course, I want Ren and Kyoko to end up together, but there are already so many great fics that cover the whole "confession" thing… Maybe I'll just jump to the citrus. Hahaha.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Second Day, Part 1

Sho did not have a good night. In fact, he'd had a really, really bad night. On his way to check on Kyoko, she had called him up to break up with him for Tsuruga Ren, and he'd then gotten hit by a car and mugged.

At least, this was only what Shoko imagined once she saw him.

In reality, Sho had just been brooding all night. Jiggling his knee while he slouched in the backseat of the van (Shoko was on the phone just outside), Sho's thoughts continued to turn dark as he glared at nothing in particular.

_"On what _planet_ are you anything but a thorn in her side?"_

Who did that bitch think she was? And who did _Kyoko_ think she was to be associating with those kinds of people? Sho knew plenty about women in the entertainment business. Less than he let on, but still plenty. Agitated, Sho continued to glare before forcing himself to recall their conversation yesterday. _Top actress in Japan, huh? That suits me just fine! Think of nothing else, for now._

Then, from the murky, swampy depths of Sho's heart, he'd feel a pinprick of pain. Glaring angrily again, with spirit-fire roaring behind his head, Sho thought: _No! Think of _me_, dammit!_

That was the circular progress of the poor, confused, vindictive teenage boy's train of thought throughout the night.

A knock at the window caused Sho's head to jerk in reaction. Just outside the surely-darkly-tinted van window was a cold, menacing face Sho hadn't seen in more than ten years. Saena.

Moving to open the van door as she stepped back, Sho noticed Shoko standing back, looking angry and insulted.

Not bothering to move out of the van, Sho merely jutted his chin up at her and challenged her with his eyes. "What?" He could see Shoko whip her head at him for his disrespect, but she said nothing.

"You're bringing me to LME today."

"Like _hell_ I am! Why do I need to take you?"

"Sho—" Shoko started in the background.

"I'll tell your parents where you live."

Sho glared up at her. _You'll tell them anyways._

"And I'll sue you for abducting a minor." Saena added as she glared back and despite himself, Sho looked away. _LME, huh? Fine! This is just another opportunity for me to take over Kyoko's heart. She owes me after last night, I was just trying to check up on her when she didn't come home!_

Sho snorted. "Fine. But you'll have to wait until I'm free, first."

"I don't care about your schedule. Your manager will take care of it." Without another word, Saena moved to sit in the front seat of the van.

Making angry eye contact with Shoko, who seemed to be an anxious mix of pity and frustration, Sho leaned back and sighed as he slid the van door closed.

Shoko entered the car, rummaged through the center console for a headset, and started the car while furiously rescheduling Sho's day.

* * *

Across town, the girls all tried to get ready for work, rushing under Kanae's orders even though they had plenty of time. Chiori was going to start her first job on a morning variety show, and her manager was already on her way over when she called to wake her up. Kyoko, not having any LoveMe tasks until noon, decided to accompany Kanae to her acting job at LME, and then get an early start on her noon tasks.

When the train deposited the two girls at LME, Kyoko was running on the high that came from having a sleepover with her best friends. And they hadn't seen each other in forever! Insisting on accompanying Kanae to the set, Kyoko skipped along through the corridors, trying to stay quiet as she could sense Kanae's annoyance growing.

"Would you—just—stop? You're embarrassing me! This will be my first time acting for this crowd!"

Kyoko stopped skipping. "Really, Moko-san? Haven't you met them before?"

"The director took us out to dinner when the cast was decided, but he was so excited he talked about the script the whole night and no one else could get a word in edgewise. I didn't even get the names of the crew I'm working with." Suddenly, Kanae remembered the name on the casting list and stopped short. She hadn't had a chance to ask Kyoko about it last night. _The name Mogami Saena, does it mean anything to her?_ Right now, the redhead's eyes were shining with what was surely Kyoko's belief in Kanae's acting skills. She couldn't really bear to bring up memories of her family. Besides, what were the chances that that woman was Kyoko's mother?

Shaking her head and moving forward, Kanae decided against it. Maybe later.

The chances of that woman being Kyoko's mother were confirmed as they rounded the corner and came face-to-face with Mogami Saena.

* * *

Kyoko was in shock. Here, in LME… Here, in Tokyo… _What was her mother doing here?_

Kyoko rubbed her eyes and the visage of her mother seemed to sneer at her.

She was a fairly tall woman, and looked young for her age. Her hair was wrapped into a tight bun at the crown of her head, and her wire-framed glasses were very plain against her smooth, perfect white face. She had black eyes and a seemingly permanent frown.

Those black eyes glazed over Kyoko's form as the frozen teenager failed to respond. Kanae, sensing the tension, was just about to ask who this woman was when she was startled by the woman's icy gaze on her.

"You."

Neither girl responded, seemingly at a loss for words.

Still looking at Kanae, Saena repeated, "You. You're the inexperienced actress in _Under the Counter_, right? You're late."

Without another word, Saena walked forward three steps, reached out for Kanae's arm, and marched the girl into the studio behind her without giving a second glance to the orange-haired girl.

Kyoko stood there, lifeless. "Mother," she mouthed wordlessly.

While standing there, emptily staring at the space in front of her, someone stepped in front of her.

"Hey! Dimwit! What are you doing standing around like a lost kid?"

Kyoko soullessly looked up to find Sho glaring down at her. Unable to respond, unprovoked, Kyoko only stared into Sho's eyes, maintaining the same fear she's felt ever since her mother appeared before her.

Sho's face started to transform at the sight of the girl in front of him. Looking away, looking anywhere but her, he finally just closed his eyes and breathed, "Whatever." Looking back down at her, Kyoko had moved her gaze to the floor. "Oi. Snap out of it."

"She… didn't even look at me. She barely looked at me but it still felt like… with her eyes, she was saying I'm…" _I'm not good enough,_ Kyoko finished internally. Even Sho appearing in front of her didn't faze her once it settled in that her mother really was there. She felt her eyes starting to burn.

Sho froze. This was… _Kyoko never cried in front of him_. He was torn between shaking her, slapping her, telling her to snap out of it, and…

Eyes wide and covering his mouth with one hand while glancing down both directions of the corridor, Sho slowly reached out to her with his other hand. This was… How he would stop Mimori from crying, but Kyoko… _Kyoko was different,_ Sho admitted blithely.

Before he even had the chance to continue reaching out to her, Kyoko stood ramrod-straight and slapped both hands to her cheeks. "Yosh! Nevermind all that, Kyoko! You have a job to do!" And with that, she turned around within the wide arc of Sho's useless arm and marched off into the other direction.

Sho sighed and dropped his arm to his side. His timing…was always off.

Turning around, he headed past the open door of the studio that he figured Saena had headed into, settling onto the bleachers as he waited for some kind of bomb to drop. Sho's parents had warned him that he should show Saena around while she was in town, and to arrange the meeting between her and Kyoko whenever Saena requested it. He figured she must be here for trouble.

Now Sho was stuck in the audience bleachers for some dumb drama while Saena criticized some dumb actress for not pronouncing some dumb legal terms correctly. He watched as the raven-haired girl held in her rage for several takes while Saena cut into her ruthlessly, interrupting each one. Sho could barely hear the difference in their pronunciations, but now it made sense to him that Saena would adopt this kind of career. She was the kind of woman who pursued perfection, accuracy, and exactness in all things.

Sho's eyes narrowed as he considered what she must be doing in Tokyo. Was it just for this? Surely they could have someone other than her reviewing legal references in a drama. Did she even work in Tokyo? _And why drag me around? It's not like she needs me._ Sho's eyes narrowed. _Or anyone._

Shaking his head and pulling out his phone to check his fan forums, Sho decided it was none of his business. If she was here for Kyoko, maybe she'd convince her to go back to Kyoto. _Not before cutting her down_, Sho thought. His knee started jiggling angrily again, thinking about the phone call last night. _Why would Tsuruga be calling? First Beagle, now this? Is he after her?_ His face twisted into a scowl. _She swore she wouldn't fall for that pinhead. If she did…_

Sho focused on his phone again. _If she did, I'll send her home. I'll keep her where she'll think about no one but me._

* * *

Kyoko decided to mop. She decided to mop all of the hardly-used bathrooms and hallways of the fourth floor north wing. If the president knew she was doing it to keep her mind from dealing with other things, he would scold her. But she decided that no one would really notice her over here, anyways. _They would glance right past me, like…_

Kyoko decided to hum, too. She hummed nonsense, just nonsensical tunes as she pushed the mop around the floor, catching nothing but the dust that had gathered since the last time she needed to vent her frustration through a wet broom. Kyoko didn't really listen to music, anyways. _I haven't really listened to music since I threw out Sho's albums…_

And Kyoko decided that everything was okay. The birds were singing outside, it was a beautiful morning in late April. She had just had a sleepover with her best friends! And she got to talk to Tsuruga-san, too. Not noticing her own face heating up, Kyoko recalled their conversation. _"I could eat your cooking for the rest of my life."_ And with that, Kyoko was at peace, or at least, at peace enough. She kept humming her nonsense tunes, power-mopping her way across the department, until—

_Clack. Clack. Clack._

A pair of black, pointed, perfectly polished shoes came into view. Kyoko froze, and looked up.

Two terrible faces were in front of her.

To the side, Sho looked horrified, looking her up and down. She vaguely recalled that she was dressed in her LoveMe uniform, and then felt all-too-aware that she was also mopping an unused department space.

Sliding her eyes towards the person with the most gravity in the room, Kyoko finally made eye contact with her mother.

Of all of the disappointed, condescending sneers Kyoko had ever had pointed her way, this had to be the worst.

Kyoko was still frozen, but her curse minions had decided to come together for her, drawn out by her mother's malice. _Act_, they chanted. _Act, Kyoko!_

And so Kyoko relaxed. She leaned the mop handle to the side, gave a half-bow, and cheerily announced: "Good mornin'!" before smiling a blinding smile, erecting the mop handle, and pushing to the side of the two strangers.

Kyoko was almost in the clear when a cold, sharp voice cut into her: "Kyoko."

Kyoko tried not to freeze. Her curse minions, while drawn to the negative energy behind them, urged her forward.

"I've requested audience at your filming this afternoon. If I'm not satisfied with your efforts here, I'm sending you back to Kyoto where you can serve a purpose you can't fuck up. Given your apparent status here, and the reviews I've seen for your current show, it hardly seems worth my time. Don't be late."

_Clack. Clack. Clack._ Her mother's heels made forceful sounds against the linoleum she had just cleaned.

Kyoko, despite her best efforts, was still frozen. Her acting façade hadn't been strong enough, even though she should have been able to hold down the role of an okami indulging guests.

Sho, unnoticed, had been left behind by Saena, and ignored by Kyoko. Deciding that he couldn't treat her like Mimori, _didn't want to treat her like Mimori,_ he started to fume, stomping up to the pink atrocity before him.

Standing in front of her, Sho grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look up at him.

She had those terrified eyes again. Forcing down the fear he felt at her helplessness, _since she's always the tough one_, Sho started to shake her. "Are you just going to let her win?! I thought you were going to become the best actress in Japan, and even upstage me!"

Kyoko's eyebrows started to knit together, but she still wasn't focusing her eyes.

"_Harden your damn heart, Kyoko! _If you can put up such a fight against _me_, you are NOT going to lose to her! It was a challenge! You can live up to the challenge of some woman that…that doesn't even know you anymore! Don't give in to her, to anyone!" He barely stopped himself from mentioning that she needed to resist that frickin' pinhead, too—he wasn't the enemy here.

Kyoko finally focused her eyes, and they were focused on his face. Just having her attention on him made him grow cocky. "If _anyone's_ going to send you back to that godforsaken hick-town, it's going to be _me_!"

Finally, _finally_, the fire was lit in her eyes and Sho felt a sudden surge of pride. Before he had the chance to say anything else and make himself look like a jackass [A/N: and he is doing so good!], Kyoko gave a triumphant look, pushed Sho's hands off her shoulders, grabbed the mop and marched out of the room.

Surprised by her quick retreat, but still appeased with himself for being able to rile her up in just the right way, Sho smirked in self-satisfaction and turned to follow Saena.

* * *

Kyoko checked her schedule in her locker.

She had just one film shoot today, and it was for a new drama.

_Three Days_ was a drama-mystery about the ways a life could change in just three days. The drama would only have three one-hour episodes, but Kyoko was very excited for the role—it was for the protagonist in the drama! The main character, Yuki, was from a happy, well-to-do family. Or happy enough, thanks to the love of her father. When he tragically, mysteriously disappears and is presumed dead, her step-mother and step-sister abandon her and she's left to fend for herself. By chance, she's able to impress the owner of a restaurant, who takes her in during rush hour. There, she meets a chef who just might know something about her father… That was as much as she had read, anyways.

The whole filming operation was a bit of a rush job and she'd only been announced the role yesterday—she hadn't even understood Sawara-san's email when he informed her last night—plus she'd been out with Kanae and Chiori. She'd forgotten to tell Tsuruga-san, too. Kyoko winced. _I feel like I'm jinxing myself. _Muttering to herself, Kyoko tried to think of some protective charms. That idiot's weird behavior was _definitely_ a bad omen.

"—can't believe her! I'm going to be so late to my next shoot!"

Kyoko's head shot up as Kanae's voice announced her presence just before she opened the door to the LoveMe locker room, Chiori trailing behind her.

Upon entering the room, Kanae froze at the sight of Kyoko. Kyoko smiled thinly while Chiori looked over Kanae's shoulder.

"Oh, Kyoko-chan, we didn't realize you'd be here."

Kanae huffed, quickly moving over to her locker, opening it quickly and rummaging around for a script. Kanae had pieced it together by now. Looking over at the forced smile on Kyoko's face, Kanae asked, "Did she say anything to you?"

Kyoko almost didn't say anything, but remembered Sho's strange encouragement from earlier. _That woman doesn't know me at all. It doesn't matter._ Keeping up her smile, she looked up at Kanae's back, "Un. She's going to observe my new drama this afternoon. If my acting isn't good enough…" Kyoko trailed off, trying to ignore her burning eyes again. _What's with me?_

Kanae had turned away from her locker, her full attention on Kyoko now. "Kyoko."

Kyoko didn't look up.

"Kyoko, whatever it is she threatens you with, it doesn't matter. She can't hurt you. She can't make you do anything."

Kyoko, forcing the thin smile again, scratched the back of her head. "Well, I'm still a minor. And she's my legal guardian."

"So what? She can't…" Kanae gripped the script in her hands, twisting it, her eyes downcast and shadowed by her hair.

Kyoko dropped the smile and looked down, too. Chiori glanced nervously between the two.

"…it doesn't matter. Kyoko, if there's anyone who can rise to a challenge, it's you! That's how you bested me when we first met, too, and I never regretted losing to you!"

Kyoko still looked down, but now Chiori had caught on, just a little bit. "She's right, Kyoko! Even when we tried to get you to give up on being Natsu, you rose to the challenge and showed us all. You can do it!"

Kyoko looked up to see the encouraging poses and expressions of both her friends. She really didn't want to leave here. Taking a deep breath, Kyoko said, "I won't let you down!" and looked up at them with some renewed vigor.

Kanae and Chiori offered encouraging smiles, and within four seconds, Kyoko had started to tear up.

"Wh-wh-what? What is it?!" Kanae stuttered, surprised as she backed away from Kyoko, into her own locker.

Kyoko looked up at them with shining eyes as the tears started to fall and started blubbering. "You two are my best friends and I don't want to looooose you, wahhhh—"

Kanae looked away, deciding she had a headache. "You handle this," she muttered to Chiori as she moved quickly out of the locker room.

Chiori smiled a little uncomfortably. "Un," she agreed and moved forward to awkwardly pat Kyoko's back.

* * *

Not enough time had passed before she was due at the studio. It was a part of LME, which wasn't a surprise to Kyoko. She was pretty sure Sawara-san and Takarada-san had fought for her to have this role, since she hadn't heard about it at all until the day before filming. For all she knew, the president had organized it as an opportunity for her.

Kyoko shook her head. _Doesn't matter. Just focus on the script._

In the time after parting with Chiori and Kanae, Kyoko had managed to read the rest of the script. Some of the actions of the second scripted day, where a fiery romance develops with the chef, and the third day, where she is reunited with her father thanks to the chef's efforts, seemed a little overwhelming to her. However, she was pretty sure she could act out the first day. On this day, she would start off as a pampered princess, who had just returned home from studying abroad. _I'm Yuki-chan_. _Yuki-chan is an educated college student who has been traveling the world. I have a loving father who dotes on me. I want to become a pastry chef. I've spent years studying in culinary schools across the globe. I am refined and worldly._

Kyoko breathed out, and breathed in Yuki. Opening her eyes here, in the safety of her dressing room, she was perfectly prepared to face her step-mother, who disliked her frivolous husband sending Yuki around the world to expensive culinary schools. She was safe from her indifferent sister, who recognized her mother's issues but was still envious of the father's affection she'd never have. And she was free to pursue her own dreams.

Standing up, she left her dressing room and made her way onto set.

* * *

"Cut!" The director called.

Kyoko looked up, startled out of character.

"That's good, ladies, you're fine. We're just going to move on."

All three women visibly sighed with relief. Kyoko was working with Ayase Fuyuki and Hanasame Aika as the step-mother and step-sister, respectively. They were both surprised to know that Kyoko was the actress for Mio and Natsu, and were impressed. They too were often cast into bully roles such as this, and immediately decided to cheer her on for her chance to shine as a protagonist. Still, acting out animosity from the very first scene was a little awkward, and they were all nervous under the pressure of the rushed filming.

Kyoko let her eyes move into the crowd, where her mother had been standing. _She was gone_. Kyoko's stomach dropped. This was just like the _one time_ she had managed to get her mother to come see her at a school play, only to notice that she had left the audience during the first act. When Kyoko finally got home hours later, she was greeted with a smack and a warning to never waste her mother's time like that again.

_If she's left already_… But then she spotted her, some distance away, talking firmly with the director, who seemed to be trying to talk her out of something. She shook her head sternly and pointed at the stage, her face making sharp lines. Dejectedly, the director sighed and made eye contact with Kyoko.

Making his way back on set while Saena returned to the audience, the director called out, "Is Ichirou-san on set today?"

After some murmurs, a stagehand informed him that he wasn't supposed to be on set until tomorrow's filming and was scheduled elsewhere today. Some of the actors seemed nervous. "Are we acting out the next day already?" "I'm not ready for that!" The director ignored them and did not seem surprised that Ichirou was absent. "Right. Okay, Kijima. Looks like you're acting for him today."

Hidehito Kijima was a man who always tried to feel prepared. He had to admit that having all faces turn towards him while he was trying to catch up on reading the new One Piece chapter—well, he did not feel prepared in the slightest.

* * *

**Phew! The second day was really challenging for me, so I had to split it into two chapters. I'm really struggling with Saena's motivations, but I finally decided I had to post something before 219 comes out, even if I haven't totally figured out Saena's character yet. Looking forward to what Nakamura-sensei comes up with for her.**

**Someone out there said this is probably going to take more chapters than I thought, and boy are you right. We'll see how many though. :)**

**That being said, thank you all so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites! Be sure to log in before posting reviews so I can respond to your predictions and questions. ;)**

**This might be more Sho than most people like, but this past summer I read some really great fanfictions that really drew out my sympathy for him. He's such a pitiable character with room for development... That being said, he ain't the hero of this story, no sirree.**

**I did pull him out to encourage Kyoko, though. I felt that, just as Kyoko had shown up to revive him when Vie Ghoul was dragging him down, he needs to have a similar role for her.**

**Still, no Ren in this chapter, boo! Let me know what you thought, and check out my one-shot "My Personal Charm" if you have a chance. Minimalist Ren/Kyoko fluff. **

**Thanks everyone!**


	3. Second Day, Part 2

Twenty minutes after the director's order, the scene was set and everyone was in place. They weren't filming this scene, but it was, as the director mumbled, a _testing scene_ for the actress. Practice, he tried to call it, but the alertness in Saena's eyes told Kyoko otherwise.

Kyoko hadn't spoken to Kijima since the Dark Moon party, where he had dressed her up for the evening. Shaking the memories from her mind, she made eye contact with him and tried to mentally plead with him for everything to work out well. Kijima was a pretty good actor, she felt, and she really wanted this to go well in one shot.

Closing her eyes, Kyoko prepared herself for her first-ever romantic scene. Blushing at the sound of that, she corrected, _first-ever flirting scene_.

When she opened her eyes again, she was Yuki through and through. Though she'd had a hard night sleeping on the street, she'd met a fairy godfather (of sorts) while she was trying to find breakfast, and immediately fallen for the charismatic chef, Kuze. In this scene, she was supposed to be flirting casually with him while he oriented her with the kitchen.

_Nothing too serious, you can do this!_

"And…action!"

"The entree crew usually takes up the back row, and the prep team likes to work over here," Kuze explained, walking her through the kitchen. "I'm usually at the head station right here, so that means you'll be," he turned to her, placing his palm flat against a workspace, "right next to me." He flashed her a smile.

"Lucky me," she replied easily, smiling slyly.

"Ah, yes," Kuze leaned against the counter, removing his hat to brush his hand through his long, dark hair. "Try not to get too distracted by the sight of my good looks."

Yuki sighed dreamily, a teasing look starting to creep across her features, "You better be careful too. You might have to deal with hot pans all day, but daydream about a girl like me at work and you might get burned."

Kuze smirked at her and walked towards her, his confidence growing by the second. "Oh?" he asked, leaning down until his face was directly in front of hers, already tilted to the side. "What if we do more than _daydream_?" He reached out a hand to stroke her cheek, but a centimeter before he made contact, Kyoko's face morphed into a haunted, stupefied gape.

_That's not a look I like to see._ Kijima, too, was frozen, until the director awkwardly called "Cut!"

There were some murmurs from the crowd, but they didn't last long. This was a romantic scene, after all, and it was easy to feel awkward. It took a little bit of chemistry, and they'd done well to get that far into the scene on one take.

The director seemed to think the same thing. "Try to relax, Kyoko-san. Let's pick up from where Kuze starts to walk towards her."

"No."

Everyone seemed a little confused about where this clear, confident voice had come from. Finally, a few crew members noticed the stern woman in the bleachers who seemed unfazed by the confusion. "I said no. Move on to another scene," she commanded.

The director seemed to want to disagree, but something caught his eye and he dropped his head. Kyoko scanned the crowd until she saw him—the president. Scariest of all, he was dressed pretty normally in a white pirate shirt and black slacks. _If he was taking this seriously, and backing up Saena's requests…_

Kyoko gulped.

The director called out again. "Okay. Good job Kyoko-san, Kijima-san. That's enough practice for now. We're going to act out the reunion scene between Yuki and her father."

Murmurs carried across the crowd, and this time, they didn't die out quickly. "What kind of acting test is this?" "She's doing fine, isn't she? Aren't we on a tight schedule?" "Had he not seen her act before?" "I haven't even read that scene yet, what happens?"

Kyoko remained stoic in the midst of all the chaos, unable to make eye contact with anyone. Kijima nudged her shoulder. "Hey, you okay?" he smiled down at her.

Kijima was a good guy. She smiled up at him, though it wasn't heartfelt. "Un, thanks."

"You did great. I'm a little jealous I didn't get Ichirou's part." With that, and a wink, Kijima walked off set, grabbing his phone from his manager.

Kyoko looked up to make eye contact with the director. He seemed to be looking at her with pity and anxiety. Deciding that she didn't want to cause any unease in her director, not when this was her big chance to get a good role, Kyoko mustered all her strength to put on a convincing look to encourage him.

He smiled back, pleased with her spirit, but still concerned.

Fifteen minutes later, they were ready in the next set and the actor for her father, who had been sharing a wonderful meal with his daughter an hour ago on set, was ready to re-emerge in her life after their tragic separation. He had spent the past two days tied up in a warehouse and looked pretty worse for wear, but the encouraging smile he sent Kyoko really warmed her heart. "You can do it, kid! I don't know what they're putting you through, but you've got this!"

Kyoko, heartwarmed, bowed deeply. "Hai!" Unconsciously, Kyoko felt a wave of love for Kuu in her heart.

Yuki, also a little worse for wear (from having run through the woods to find this abandoned warehouse) was about to enter the scene to rescue him from some corporate-hired criminals, who were promised a lot of money if they could keep the CEO of the major corporation, Yuki Industries [A/N: He named his company after her? Is that cute? I struggled to think of a name.] hostage long enough for their rotten plans to go through.

Kyoko closed her eyes, and again thought about Yuki and Yuki's struggles to get here. She imagined the kind old man as Kuu, and pictured the lengths she would go to in order to rescue him. Growing teary-eyed at just the thought of Otou-sama being in danger, she was in perfect character when the voice called out "Action!"

Opening the rusty metal door to the building, Yuki frantically called out, "Father! Father, are you here? I—"

Spying a dark lump on the ground, Yuki covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes growing wide and wet as she saw the wide pool of blood surrounding her father's prone corpse. _I never knew blood was…so dark…_

At this, Yuki shed tears uncontrollably, sobbing, throwing herself down to her knees at her father's body.

Frantically pushing at her father's wide, proud shoulders, Yuki cried into the echoing vastness. On set, everyone appeared torn apart by the gut-wrenching scene before them. Even though they hadn't seen the heroine's struggles to survive and be reunited with her father (and many of them had not even read that far into the script), you could hear all of her failed efforts and vain struggles in her cries. Their hearts reached out to her and, to everyone who hadn't read the script's surprise, were breathless when her father moaned out to her, "Yuki…"

"Otou-san!" Yuki's sobs were choked with relief as she threw herself upon her father's chest, who was able to smile ever so slightly into the audience's direction. His shaky arm raised a hand to her hair, and Yuki's tear-stained face of joy helped everyone in the audience realize that he had a great reason to carry on living. He'd survive.

"And…cut!"

Everyone was startled out of their reverie as they wiped their eyes and cheered for the two actors who were nervously walking off stage. The kind actor gave her a shoulder hug and Kyoko really did feel proud of the scene they just acted out—all in one take, on the first try! Crew and cast members alike came up to her to congratulate her on a scene well done, honestly admitting that their hearts went out to her and that they forgot she was acting. Some even quietly admitted that they hadn't had much faith in this drama, but they now had renewed vigor in its potential.

Hearing this, Kyoko glanced up at the director, who was leaning back with a wide grin across his face.

As he started to speak, Kyoko nervously looked into the audience, to see… that her mother had left. For real this time, Kyoko realized, looking around.

"Well done, Kyoko-san, Futomaki-san! You've even restored _my_ faith that this show will be a hit!" the director admitted, giving a self-deprecating smile to some of those frank castmembers who had admitted the same. Smiling a full smile again, he continued. "Thank you everyone for putting up with this weird filming schedule. I promise, now we'll do normal scheduling. And tonight, I'll buy you all a round of drinks!"

A round of cheers went through the crowd as cast and crew moved back into their normal positions. Trying to shake off thoughts of her mother, Kyoko did manage to spy someone else in the crowd, someone she somehow hadn't noticed before. With bleach-blonde hair hidden underneath a baseball cap and the hood of a sweatshirt, she almost didn't recognize Sho, his face partially covered by large wayfarer sunglasses. But the wide, uncontrollable grin he'd been casting her way had finally got through to her. Holding her gaze, Sho raised a thumbs-up and maintained the proud smile on his face. Unable to find a reason to be provoked, Kyoko couldn't help but smile back, just a little.

* * *

**Sorry for the delay! Had some health issues, can't eat burgers for a while. :( Woe is me.**

**Someone pointed out a big thing that I missed-I totally forgot about Chiori's manager getting hurt in the accident. I've decided to run with what I wrote and not worry about it, but I hope it didn't drive any of you nuts. I added a note to the first chapter.**

**I also, uh, wrote a lemon for Ren/Kyoko. I originally wanted to fit one into this story, but I honestly don't think it'd be realistic to put a lemon into a story like this. Not unless I did, like, a two-year time lapse into their relationship haha. So, umm, please check it out. I think it's pretty good, if I may say so myself. *cough* It's called "Control and Desire", in case you have a little time on your hands.**

**For this chapter, I drew some inspiration for the filming from the Korean drama, Shining Inheritance. If you feel like crying your eyes out for a tragic Cinderella story (with a happy ending), check it out on Netflix or DramaFever.**

**Another chapter should be coming soon! Thanks for reading!**


	4. Second Day, Part 3

Once the filming was packed up for the day, the crew hastily made the director keep his word about buying them a round of drinks.

"Eh, Kyoko-san… How old are you?"

"I'm seventeen, Houko-san."

The director halted, an apologetic look on his face, "Ah, well, looks like I won't be buying you any drinks tonight. You'll have to be patient with us, but won't you come along anyways? You're the star of the evening, as it so happens!" At that, the nearby cast and crew cheered.

Kyoko blushed. "H-hai, Houko-san!"

As she moved along with her impressed and supportive cast, she didn't notice a huffy blonde walk down from the audience and follow them.

Once they were all at the sake-house, Kyoko settled in between Kijima and Aika-chan (who insisted that Kyoko call her that). Kijima, especially after he'd had a few drinks, was more than happy to talk up the both of them, and spirits were high all around enough that even Kyoko had to relax and laugh at his antics.

"…so I'm sitting at my computer at home, in my underwear, you know, and this total stranger just _barges_ into my apartment!"

"So I'm like, what the hell, dude?! I'm ready to deck this guy for just breaking into my house!"

A critical voice popped up. "Did you even lock the door?"

"Well no, but still!"

"Anyways, I'm like, what the hell? And this guy opens his mouth and I realize that he is clearly, _clearly_ drunk as a fish in a river! And he says to me, he says to me, _Hey man, where's Kousuke?_ _Is this Kousuke's house?_"

"So I'm like, what are you talking about man, I'm Kijima, this is Kijima's house!"

"Kousuke's like, having a baller party in this house, man, where'd he go?"

"And this guy comes stumbling towards me and I realize, man he must be from some stupid house party in my apartment complex! So I tell him, hey punk, you've got the wrong place! And I reach out to steady him and you know what? He tries to _punch _me! It was just shameful! Kyoko, I think you could punch me with more force than that guy!" there was an uproar as Kyoko turned red, and then resumed giggling. "So, I'm pissed, and I just punch him, not that hard!"

"And he falls over _cold_ on my living room floor!" more uproarious laughter, and Kijima is loving it. "So, I'm like, _shit!_ I pick this guy up by his shoulders, and in my underwear, I drag this guy out to the sidewalk and dump him there!"

The whole cast had started listening by the time he got to the end of his story, and their laughter and jeers gave Kijima a satisfied grin as he settled back into his seat, next to the hysterical Kyoko and Aika. Slightly licking his lower lip, he reached out his arm to wrap around the back of Kyoko's chair. "You know, Kyoko-chan, just how hard can you hit me, anyways?"

"What are you going to do to her to deserve it?" Aika taunted.

"Anything she likes!" Kijima promised, looking sober for a second. Looking at the blushing Kyoko, his eyes turned a little darker, unnoticed by the crowd. "Anything you want. Swear to god, hope to die."

Not unnoticed by all, though. Kyoko, for one, froze in her chair as Kijima's breath made its way onto her face. He was suddenly much too close for comfort.

It hadn't gone unnoticed by Sho either, who had decided (by himself) to play guard-dog for the incredibly naïve Kyoko. And this slobbering playboy—Sho wasn't going to stand for it at all. Wringing Kijima's arm off of her chair, the disguised teenager wrapped his other hand around Kyoko's arm and pulled her up, out of her chair.

Kyoko, recognizing him immediately, started to resist until Sho seethed at her between his lips, "Unless you're going to deck him after all, let's get the hell out of here."

Scowling at him, Kyoko nonetheless turned to the crowd and gave a deep, formal bow along with her wishes for everyone to have a good night. Everyone cheered, hopes high for the best newbie actress they'd seen in years. She'd be the hottest topic all night, up until their conversations were too disjointed to have topics at all.

Kijima glared at Sho during Kyoko's farewell, but Sho's menacing look forced Kijima to turn back to the table, where Aika easily caught his attention.

Satisfied that Kyoko had shed enough gratitude to actors that she clearly out-talented (at least to him), Sho dragged Kyoko out of the restaurant into the cold city night air.

Pulling out his phone and calling up Shoko-san, Sho barked sparse directions at her and hung up.

Kyoko was astonished. "How can you treat your manager like that? You're lucky to have someone like her!"

Looking at her coldly, Sho didn't grant her a response and looked away.

"Hmph! When I get a manager, I'll treat them a lot better than that." Kyoko folded her arms around herself and looked down the street, where she hoped Shoko-san would magically appear.

Looking at her bare shoulders, Sho shrugged out of his zippered hoodie and reached out to place it over her. As soon as it made contact with her skin, Kyoko jumped a foot away from him, looking at him like a startled deer. _More like an angry deer._

"What the hell are you doing?" Kyoko cried through a shivering, clenched jaw.

"Trying to cover you up! You're indecent!"

Looking down at herself, even the proper Kyoko couldn't agree with him. She was wearing jeans and a modest tank-top—the most normal clothes from the mobile wardrobe the president had provided (since she had spent the night at Moko-san's at his orders).

Glaring at him while trying to rub some warmth into her arms, Kyoko didn't let up her suspicious glare.

Angrily stuffing his arms back through his hoodie, Sho replied, "Whatever! See if I care if some stupid young actress dies of pneumonia!"

Before she even had the chance to change her mind about arguing with him, Sho barked, "And where the _hell_ were you last night! You didn't even call!"

At this, Kyoko spun around on her heels, flabbergasted. "Call? Call _who_? _You_? Why do _I_ have to call _you_ to tell you where _I'll_ be spending the night?!"

"Because you're _mine_, Kyoko!" Sho growled. Seeing her eyes narrow with rage and her mouth drop open, he couldn't help but add, "Not that pinheaded actor's! Do you talk to him on the phone? Does he make you feel _special_?" Sho snorted, loudly. "He's just some freaking playboy, don't go thinking you mean anything to him! You don't!"

If Sho thought this would have the same effect as his earlier speech about standing up to her mom, he was wrong. Kyoko's head shot down to stare at the pavement. She muttered something between her teeth.

"What!" Sho shouted, then lowered his intensity, exhaling. "What did you just say?"

Her head snapped up, her angry, glistening eyes meeting his, "I _said_ I don't need you to tell me that! I don't _need you_ to tell me I don't mean anything to _anyone_, okay! Haven't you done enough to prove to me I'm worthless?"

Sho froze. Kyoko waited for him to respond with uneven breath. Shaking her head and looking down at the pavement, Kyoko's following thoughts were just angry mutters. "What did I do to earn _you_ as a friend, anyway? Since I left you, I've met a lot of _really_ _wonderful_ people. And they're all better friends than _you ever were_. So what," Kyoko sighed, her shoulders sagging in. "what did I do to earn your abuse?" Kyoko wasn't looking at him. Wasn't even looking at the man in front of her who just wanted to get her away from the creeps and the cold and keep her to himself. She only saw the boy who hadn't known what to do when she cried, who couldn't live alone in a big city, who used her and discarded her like an object once he had others to rely on. "And my mom? I've met so many better parents than she ever was. Is that because they didn't have to deal with me?" Kyoko shook her head, still not looking at him.

_I guess I'm in the same category as Saena. I always wanted to leave an impression, Kyoko, but I never thought it'd be strong enough that you wouldn't have to look at me again. _Sho's fists clenched and unclenched. _Have I changed at all since then? Do I even want her to see me differently?_

"What did I do to deserve you two?" Kyoko interrupted, her haunted eyes, stuck in her painful past, finally raised up to look at Sho, who gazed back at her, his face carefully empty.

A moment passed before the blonde punk shrugged. "You're different than you were when I—when you—left me." Sho finished awkwardly, then cleared his throat. "It wasn't what you _did_, Kyoko. But what you _didn't do_."

Kyoko's eyes cleared a little, her eyes trained on his. It went to Sho's head. "Now that you're trying to earn me, you deserve better than when you were a boring Kyoto girl. You deserve better now, Kyoko."

If he thought that would help, the look of anguished disgust on Kyoko's face told him otherwise.

Spinning on her heel with an exasperated huff, Kyoko turned away from him and started walking angrily down the street, waving her arm as a taxi pulled up. He tried to catch up to her, reached out for her arm, "Kyoko, wait—"

Turning on him, Kyoko's hand shot out and she slapped Sho across the face, _hard_. Angry tears were swelling down her cheeks. "Trying to _earn_ you? You think I'm working this hard so you'll look at me again? Get _out_ of my life, _Shoutaro_. I'm finally starting to think I don't deserve your abuse after all."

She pushed him away, turning her back on him. "You," he whispered into the night, defeated as her taxi drove off and Shoko pulled up. Sho raised his face to the starless night sky. "Dammit, Kyoko!"

* * *

**I know, I know. Another short chapter. But that takes some of the pressure off me to get them perfect. :) The next one won't be up so quick; I'm going to be traveling for a few weeks.**

**What did you think of Sho? Too much? I know how you feel, I had to write him. :P He'll be in one more chapter, but I think we're moving on to something much better after that. ;)**

**I really have to say, I absolutely love the Skip Beat fandom. I'm just so happy that there are hundreds of other people like me who just want to read about Kyoko and Ren somehow getting together, over and over and over again. I know my story is just one story in an endless sea of possible ways for them to get together, and that makes me really happy. While writing, I'm coming with other (fluffier) stories to write, too. Maybe by reading this, some of you might also get an idea for a story to write. :)**

**Thanks for reading!**


	5. Second Day, Part 4

**I kept struggling to think of what kind of catalyst I could make Kyoko have with her mother in this chapter, but I just couldn't bear to put through Kyoko through more pain than she's suffering already, so I decided to give her some good news.**

* * *

By the time the taxi pulled up to her house, Kyoko regretted not walking. With a wince and a silent prayer to not spend any money for a while, she handed over $50 to the cab driver.

As Kyoko was stepping out of the cab, her phone started ringing in her purse. Closing the door behind her as she pulled out her phone, Kyoko stepped up to the curb as she opened her phone.

"Hello?"

"Mogami-san! Don't step another foot forward!"

Kyoko, frozen, did pull the phone away from her ear to check the screen.

"Takarada-haichou?"

"Mogami-san, your mother is waiting at the Daruma-ya for you. She's submitted a claim to withdraw you from LME under false, forced employment of a minor."

Kyoko's head snapped up to look at the Daruma-ya. True, the lights were on, even though it was half-past eleven at night. _Too late for any mingling customers_.

"I will be there in ten minutes, Mogami-san. You're not alone."

"Haichou, I…" Kyoko still stared at the lit windows of the restaurant. _So much for thinking I was good enough to pass her judgment._

"It's not over yet, Mogami-san. I only wish I had seen the paperwork earlier. You don't have to go in there alone." The president hung up.

_It's cold out tonight_, Kyoko thought as she looked up at the night sky above her. _Where am I supposed to go now? She wouldn't…take me back with her. _Kyoko's eyes started to burn again, and she felt her cheeks warm with anger. _I'm taking care of everything all by myself, aren't I? Why does she have to barge in now?!_

Kyoko sighed and let her head fall forward and her shoulders droop. "But I'm not alone. The Taisho's always supported me. And now my friends, and the president, and Tsuruga-san…"

"Why are you mumbling to yourself?"

Startled, Kyoko looked up, only to find the eternal eyesore. _Sho_, she thought angrily. A taxi's lights flashed behind him as it drove away. His face was red and he was glaring at her with hardly-concealed rage in his eyes. As he stepped towards her, she turned to fully face him.

"You're about to win, Sho! Was this your plan? What about having me do my best? Does this mean I've _earned you_?" she spat the words at him. Kyoko felt the tears start to build up at the edges of her eyes and made no move to stop them. In the chill spring air, she felt like they might steam up when they trailed down her burning cheeks.

Sho stopped, bewildered but still angry. "I'm about to win _what_?" Furrowing his eyebrows, he continued to step towards her. Kyoko made no move to turn away from him. _Good,_ he thought. "Kyoko, when it comes to you—" his arms reached out and his hands made contact with her shoulders, even as he continued to walk forward, pushing into her. "When it comes to you, I _never_ win." Aggressively, he loomed closer to her, his grip bruising her.

Kyoko felt her heart pounding as Sho's eyes burned into hers. Behind him, she saw car lights pass them. Narrowing her eyes, Kyoko whispered back to Sho. "So _this_ is what you want? Just to force me into a corner again, where I can't look at anybody but you?" Sho's eyes widened, but then narrowed again. "Because _ever since_ I opened my eyes to the rest of the world, _Shotaro_," Kyoko spat, "I've felt no desire to go back to you."

Sho dropped his grip on her shoulders and stood up straighter. His change went unnoticed by Kyoko, who continued. "And now what, huh? You want to force me to go back to Kyoto and be your _slave_ again? As if! You can't make me!" Kyoko shouted, panicking. "Not you, not my mother! I've decided, I tell you! I won't…" Kyoko looked down at the ground, tears finally spilling down her cheeks. "I'm not going back there."

Sho turned away from her, looking towards the street. He noticed a large car idling nearby, and could feel that his time with Kyoko was coming to an end. "Yeah. That's what I thought, anyways."

Kyoko looked back up at him as he pulled up his hood and looked up at the night sky.

"I've…never done anything for you, right?"

Kyoko's took a step back. "What?" she asked, reflexively angry.

Sho looked down at her. With the streetlights, and his hood up, she couldn't tell, but…his eyes seemed glossy.

Sho opened his mouth to say something, but Kyoko's eyes wandered to movement behind him.

In the shadows, shrouded by darkness, was…

"_Tsuruga-san…"_ Kyoko whispered, hardly audible, relief washing through her, unbidden.

But the figure kept moving towards her, and she saw that his hair was light, and blonde. _Foreign_.

"_Corn…?" _Another breathless whisper.

Kyoko's hopes rose uncontrollably, hoping beyond hopes that he'd be her savior here, and whisk her away to a land where neither her mother nor Sho could find her.

The figure was finally visible before her. Sho had turned to watch the oncoming figure with hardly-disguised suspicion and aggression.

And only when Kuu Hizuri had finally materialized before her did the cogs whir into place.

_If it was any man in the world… If any man could be Corn's father…! Here was the king of fairies, here was…! _

"Father…!"

"Son!" Kuu's smile was a beam of light, and his relief was apparent. Sho, still suspicious and startled by Kyoko's "father", stayed back as Kyoko ran forward, sobbing.

Kuu's arms opened wide, but Kyoko stopped short before him. Tears were streaming down her face as she made desperate eye contact, hands clenched to her chest.

"Father…what…what happened to Cor—_what happened to Kuon_?!"

Kuu's arms faltered in midair, as if pushed about by a strong wind. But not even this could totally surprise such an incredible actor.

"What are you talking about, _Kuon_?" Kuu's smile was stronger than ever as he wrapped his arms around her.

Her heart was beating erratically, and her chest felt paper-thin against its palpitations. _Why do Corn and Father… Why do they both look like Tsuruga-san…?_ Even his wide, enveloping hug felt familiar to her. _But Tsuruga-san would've…would've… _Tears started to pour down her cheeks again. _He would've told me, wouldn't he…?_

She could not forget the voice, the body, the embrace of the man she loved. And while Corn's magic had seemed convincing, Kyoko now knew that it was all—

_A lie_.

Her heart felt as though it was stretching against binding chains. The magic had not been real. Not only Corn, and Kuon, who had been suffering far away from her, but even the man she loved, that'd been so close to her all this time, had been suffering by himself while she tried to use his magic to seal away her sadness. _He must hate her to the point that he never wanted to tell her who he was_. _So that she'd never cause him pain again._

Kyoko peered up at Kuu again, tears streaming helplessly down her face. Kuu felt his own heart breaking at the sight of her.

In barely a whisper, Kyoko asked a terrifying question. "Father…is Tsuruga-san your son?"

She heard a smack resounding behind her. "I remember you!" Sho's voice called out, muffled to her by her father's embrace. "You're that celebrity actor! You stayed at my parent's inn when I was a kid!"

Kuu looked up at the child who had been haranguing his daughter, to see him standing there with a clenched fist against an open palm as if he had solved a mystery. Kuu glanced back down to Kyoko, who was waiting for an answer she did not need, ignoring the blonde kid's antics. _Kuon's going to kill me for this one_.

"Kyoko, I can't bear to keep it from you—" Kuu began, only to be interrupted.

"Kuu," an angelic, tinkling voice called out behind him. "Are you going to keep our new son all to yourself?"

All heads shot up at the sound of the new voice. Kuu sighed but smiled and, with his arm around Kyoko's shoulder, turned around.

Kyoko looked up to see the woman standing before her, and her tears instantly stopped. Stunned, blinded by the radiance and beauty of Julie Hizuri, Kyoko's eyes couldn't help but grow wide. _If anyone could be Corn's mother—_

This time, her voice couldn't help but call out.

"The queen of fairies!"

* * *

**Too much? :) I don't want Kyoko to ever stop believing in magic. Even when Ren completely reveals himself to her, I hope he does it in a way that still lets her believe in magic and fairies.**

**Anyways, this happy turn of events feel rather out of tune with the unfortunate slog I was going to have Kyoko wade through to earn her happy ending, so hopefully I didn't write myself into a happy corner that I can't progress from.**

**Thank you for reading! If you haven't already, go read Kat's summary of chapter 224 on her "A Dreamer on Drugs" blog. Lately I've been comparing Nakamura-sensei's artwork to her earlier chapters and I really have to say she's improved so much. I think the story was always wonderful, and I always liked her art, but ten years of drawing Tsuruga Ren really made him much more handsome. :)**


	6. Second Day, Final Part

"By the time we got off the plane, she had already received fourty-three gifts from admirers! Chocolates, flowers, in-flight cocktail vouchers—the vouchers I can understand, but where do guys get chocolates and flowers on a plane? They must've been bon voyage gifts from their loving, loyal, unsuspecting spouses…" Kuu sighed dramatically as Julie laughed.

"How would _you_ know? You weren't sitting anywhere near me."

Kuu's hand shot up to his chest and mimicked a mortal wound at her words, even as his other arm wrapped tighter around her shoulders. "That's exactly the problem! Had you let me sit next to you, I would've emanated a protective ward to keep those admirers at bay."

"Well, then we wouldn't have such a unique array of gifts to pass on to Kyoko-chan."

At this, the Hollywood couple glanced again at Kyoko, who was indeed surrounded by many bouquets delegated to every vase-like object the okami-san had been able to find. Together, the three of them were sitting in the living room above the Darumaya. Kuu was sitting in the boss' seat, at the insistence of the Taisho himself.

_"Kyoko, you know Shuhei Hozu—err, Hizuri Kuu?" The okami-san had whispered to Kyoko, ready to excuse herself to get started on feeding what Kyoko had assured her was Kuu's bottomless stomach._

_"Ehh, hehe," Kyoko had scratched the back of her head shyly._

_The Taisho, who had been standing at the door after the introductions, ready to leave for his post, took the opportunity to make a rare statement. His deep voice caught everyone's attention instantly, and Kuu looked up to find the stern chef making eye contact with him. "My wife and I used to watch your shows, every season." The okami-san looked surprised for a moment, then her eyes softened and she smiled, reminiscing at this old memory mentioned by her taciturn husband. "Before we were married, it was part of our courtship to meet up at my house and watch the new episodes. Until we started watching Kyoko's drama, we hadn't seen any actor quite as talented."_

_In the silence, the Taisho folded his arms and hardened his expression, ever so slightly. Only his wife detected the faintest shade of pink on his cheeks, and she discreetly dried the corner of her eyes._

_Kuu stood from his spot at the table and bowed formally to the Taisho before standing up straight and meeting his eyes again. "I am honored to have helped bring together the two people who have cared for our beloved Kyoko. It is I who is in your debt." Their eyes met in understanding and the Taisho nodded the most imperceptible of nods before turning for the kitchen, his wife bowing and catching up to him, her hand reaching up to rest on his back as they passed out of sight._

Kyoko looked up from her recent memory to find the most beautiful couple she had ever seen looking at her softly. Prior to her reminiscing, she had been watching them in admiration, her heart beating fast at the notion of Kuu setting up a magical protective ward around the beautiful Fairy Queen Julie. Kyoko did not have any experience with affectionate couples (since she had been raised by a loveless mother and both Sho's parents and the Darumaya's couple were very proper and discreet in their affections), but she was enjoying watching their loving banter, stunned by their beauty together. Her grudge Kyokos had melted long ago, after Kuu and Julie had insisted on hugging her with Kuu first, no, then with Julie first, then with both at the same time, all the while bestowing Kyoko with radiant, loving smiles, patting the head of the tearstained teenager.

"So, Kyoko, this new drama of yours, Box R?" Kuu cleared his throat, deciding on shop talk. "Was it one of the dramas you decided to accept after our discussion?"

Kyoko brightened, excited to fill her "father" in on her acting successes as Natsu. "Un! Originally I did not feel any love for the character, and the director just told me to act out Mio. Truth be told, that was how I got through at first but, I before long, I came up with a few ideas to make her my own..." Kyoko scratched the back of her head, a bit shy that she hadn't seen the episode herself.

"Yes," Julie spoke softly, "Kuu and I watched the first episode together. You looked beautiful, Kyoko-chan." Kyoko's eyes widened and sparkled as the Fairy Queen bestowed such a blessing on her. "You truly had the posture and grace of a model. And the slight difference between the bullies' squad and the hero's squad, that too was a subtle difference."

"Ah," Kyoko laughed nervously, "the costume change was an improvisation from me. One of my costars had removed my bowtie from my costume in order to get me in trouble, but, eh, I think it turned out pretty well." Julie smiled softly at the young girl, before Kyoko began again. "As for the posture change, that was inspired by a model I had seen. I had been thinking, Natsu is different from Mio, she's a leader, she's young, rebellious, and stylish. I have to say I really imposed on Tsuruga-san with that one…"

At the mention of his name, Kyoko's eyes dropped and did not notice the glance between the Hizuris. Kuu's was stern, trying to convey a warning to his excited wife, one that she did not heed.

"Tsuruga… Ren…?" Julie spoke hesitantly, as if speaking the name for the first time.

Kyoko, still in a daze, looked up at Julie.

_If anyone could be Corn's mother…_

She could not look at Kuu, not while she was thinking this way. Because it would make it too obvious…

"Un," Kyoko managed to smile, gulping. "When I realized that I needed to learn how to act like a model, I waited outside Tsuruga-san's apartment until he got home at two in the morning. He trained me all night, never complaining. He said he'd teach me the techniques of the most beautiful and elegant model in the world, and it's thanks to him that Natsu developed the way she did."

At this, Julie looked away from Kyoko, her chin quivering.

"Did he… did Tsuruga Ren really say that?"

Kyoko blinked, then stood up from her seat without hesitating, a royal attendant for the Fairy Queen, her hand on her chest. "Only because he has not seen your own beauty and elegance, Your Majesty!"

Kuu, his own eyes watering, chuckled, and watched as Julie, startled, turned to look at the attentive but misunderstanding Kyoko. Upon seeing her new "daughter", Julie smiled indulgently, tears gathering at the corner of her eyes, and laughed. She opened her arms wide and leaned towards Kyoko.

"Oh, that's not what I… come here, please…" And Kyoko was helpless to obey as she floated into the arms of the most beautiful and elegant model in the world.

At this moment, the Okami-san appeared silently with a tray of drinks, rice, and side dishes. Kuu, being the only one to notice her, smiled up at her as she quietly set down the tray on the table and arranged it around the small family, beamed at the sight of the two women, and bowed out of the room.

"Honey," Julie laughed into Kyoko's shoulders, "couldn't you eat a bit quieter? We're having a moment, here."

"Ahh, but it's so delicious!" Kuu pled, and began to slurp his broth, which allowed the two women to giggle and separate. Kyoko kneeled before Julie, who held Kyoko's hands in hers. "Kyoko, you're a beautiful, talented young woman." Julie paused as she tucked Kyoko's hair behind her ear. "…won't you—"

Kuu coughed loudly and Kyoko, on waitress instinct, moved towards him to help. While she fussed, Kuu shot Julie a look, and this time she understood, though not without a pout.

At Kyoko's insistence, Kuu drank some of his tea before clearing his throat. "Ah, sorry about that ladies! I guess I was jealous that Julie had all of your attention, Kyoko." And Kuu smiled at Kyoko as she blushed, lightly, before admonishing him for playing a prank on her.

Julie, forgetting to pout, rested her elbow on the table and her chin on her palm as she watched her husband and new child bantering and laughing together.

_…won't you come back home with us?_

* * *

It was silent. Only the sound of passing cars and the orange glow from the streetlight penetrated the limousine.

Though Saena did not recognize the significance of it, the President was not in cosplay tonight, but in a classic suit.

Saena, just as good an actor as her daughter, was stone-faced.

Sebastian stood just outside the limo. It had been his job to retrieve Saena from the Darumaya, and Lory neither knew nor wanted to know how he had managed to do so.

She had not uttered a word, and he wasn't about to give in, either.

Instead, he opted to reach for a cigar. He held it up to Saena, both offering one and asking for resistance, but she simply shook her head. She watched as he lit it, breathed in the smoke, and blew it away from her, into the unlit depths of the limousine.

As much as she valued her pride, Saena did not believe in wasting time. From the briefcase resting at her feet, she procured a stiff envelope and laid it on her knees.

"I want her to return to Kyoto."

Lory breathed in the smoke again, and again blew it into the unlit depths of the limousine.

"There's a couple there that will take care of her. They'll finish raising her the way she was meant to be raised."

Lory raised an eyebrow and uttered his first word. "Oh?"

"Discreetly."

As much as he too valued his pride, Lory did not believe in spending any more time than necessary with this woman.

"So are you paying me off?" Lory inquired, a knowing look at the envelope on her knees.

Saena reached across the limousine to place it onto the seat next to him.

"I did not know where she had been living, and had been unable to pay for her expenses."

"Which you," Lory drew out the words slowly, "are legally required to provide, I'm sure."

Saena said nothing.

Lory sighed. "Tell you what." He lifted the envelope by one corner, weighed it thoughtfully, and tossed it back at her. She let it fall to the floor. "I'll give you ten times that amount to leave her alone."

The furrow in her eyebrows appeared, casting even more shadow across her face. "The money means nothing to a woman like me."

Lory breathed in another lungful of smoke.

"The only thing that matters is my success. And _that's_ at stake so long as _she_ is running around where she might expose me."

"Success?" Lory asked, and took her silence as a yes. _Let me tell you a little something about success. It will never be enough to make _you_ human again._

"Well," Lory shrugged, "if you really want to make it that easy."

He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, carefully folding his hands together as his cigar wobbled, the orange glow of the lit tip dancing through the air.

"If you really want to make it that easy, then you will simply leave, and not come back."

Saena's eyebrows furrowed deeper.

"You are an adept woman of the law, Mogami-san. But you have no experience with television."

"Television?" Saena asked, sneering.

"Television." Lory repeated. "If you want to make it so clear that that girl is a threat to your success, then rather than accepting my money, you can listen to me now."

A car passed by, and the limousine just barely shook in its wake.

"If you have no intentions of being that girl's mother, then simply vanish from my sight. Right now, she's with two loving couples who wish they were her parents, and I don't think she needs you." Lory relaxed his hands and took another puff of his cigar. "Someday," he uttered gruffly before releasing the smoke, "she might need you to apologize—"

Saena huffed in disbelief. "Apolo—"

"And I don't think you're capable of that." Lory paused. "From what _I've _seen of you, Mogami-san, I hope she never understands you. I'm truly the kind of man who believes that as an actor, she needs to observe others to learn how to portray them correctly." He frowned. "But I'd rather have her struggle with her imagination than understand a woman like you, particularly when that woman is her mother."

Silence, again.

"She's at a delicate stage, and if she can learn to love herself despite your trauma," Saena scoffed but Lory continued, louder, "than she will be happier and more _successful_ than you'll ever be. So disappear from my sight, and never appear before her again. She does not need your money. We will not press charges that you're not providing monetary support. We will have nothing to do with you. And if you _do appear again_," Lory growled, "I will show you what a little press-conference on _television_ will do to your career."

"You're bluffing," Saena protested, her eyebrow furrowing. "You don't want this to get out either."

"We will spin it however we have to so that Kyoko is not hurt."

Her eyebrow furrowed again at his bluff. "I'll sue."

Lory leaned back and smiled at her own bluff, confident that his encounter with this woman was almost over. "But the money '_means nothing to a woman like you.'_"

* * *

After being reassured that they would be still be in Japan in the morning and weren't figments of her imagination, Kyoko finally let herself be ushered to bed.

After the chaos of the day, she was oddly relieved to find herself in her unchanging sanctuary. She was about to grab Corn from his pouch when she opted to open her phone instead.

_Three new messages._

Message 1, from Sebastian:

_Mogami-sama, your mother has left us with instructions to carry on with your studies. The president also wanted to let you know that he was very impressed by your performance today. _At this Kyoko paused, having already forgotten about the drama she shot today. _Have a good evening._

Message 2, from Kanae:

_Sorry for making a big fuss earlier. Everything worked out, I was just stressed. Can we have lunch soon?_

Message 3, from Sho:

_I'm sorry._

Kyoko was moved from relief, to joy, to discomfort. She replied to Kanae's first, then Sebastian's, then deleted Sho's.

Closing her phone, she readied herself for bed and lied down. Too many thoughts had been running through her head all day. At Kuu's best efforts, she had been able to enjoy spending time with the Hizuris and didn't think too much about… _that_.

Unbidden, Kuu's face came to mind.

_"Kyoko, I can't bear to keep it from you—"_

Kyoko forcefully turned onto her right side, away from such thoughts.

_How dare I think such things about Tsuruga-san? Going so far as to think he's a fairy prince? How deluded am I?!_

Turning back onto her left side, she thought of Corn.

_Corn, borrowing Tsuruga-san's body._

_Corn, borrowing Tsuruga-san's voice._

_Corn, kissing her…_

Bright red, Kyoko opted to sleep on her stomach, her face in her pillow. It had been hard enough at the time, to look at Corn and not think of Tsuruga-san.

_"By that you mean… I may also address you without an honorific?"_

_"Because I love Kyoko-chan."_

_Corn, kissing her…_

Kyoko flopped onto her back, her face bright red. _Impudent Kyoko! Wishful thinking! That my perfect parents must be Tsuruga-san's that my first kiss was with Tsuruga-san!_

_Tsuruga-san's lips on her cheek. "Thank you, it was delicious."_

With many palmprints on her forehead and cheeks, Kyoko buried herself in her blankets, gazing at her posters on the wall.

_If he didn't tell me, though…_

Kyoko sighed and closed her eyes. _Then he doesn't want me to know_.

And the hours spent with the Hizuris almost washed off of her as Kyoko, her blood pressure low, almost descended into despondent dreams.

Another message on her phone.

Kyoko paused before reaching out to it and opened it, hoping it wasn't from Sho.

It wasn't. It was from Tsuruga-san.

_Are you awake?_

Despite her turmoil, despite the entire day, Kyoko immediately smiled. _He never messages me_.

Holding her phone up above her head while she typed, Kyoko replied.

_Yes, I am._

She waited a minute for his reply. When it didn't come, she checked her outbox to make sure her message had gone through when his reply came in.

_I'd like to hear your voice tonight. Can I call you?_

Blushing, Kyoko reread the text six times. In that time, he had quickly sent another.

_If that's okay. You don't have to._

Kyoko typed slowly, _Sure._

His phone call was immediate, and she didn't notice that her smile was too.

"Good evening, Tsuruga-san."

She heard him breathe a smile into the phone. "Good evening, Mogami-san."

They both lay like that, hundreds of miles away, both just happily aware of the other person's presence after a long day apart.

Eventually, Ren cleared his throat. "So, Mogami-san, how was your day?"

Kyoko let out a short laugh. "What's so funny?" Ren asked her.

"Nothing! Tsuruga-san, eh, I've just had…a very long day."

Hearing that she was tired, but not upset, Ren relaxed. "I'd like to hear all about it."

Kyoko decided she could talk about most of it, at least. "Well, I forgot to mention yesterday that I got a new role today."

"Oh, really? That's great news. What is the role for?"

"Hmm, she's like Cinderella," Kyoko admitted, tucking her chin in in slight embarrassment. Ren smiled radiantly, though she did not sense it. "Because she gets along with her father, but he goes missing, presumed dead, and her step-mother abandons…her…" Kyoko's words faltered at the end of the sentence.

Ren, for her sake, pretended not to notice. "A Cinderella role, that's wonderful. So it's not a bully position?"

"Not at all! And all of the cast and crew were so kind! But…"

"But…?" Ren prompted.

_But my mom was in the audience today._

Across the ocean, Ren pressed his phone harder against his ears, listening for a clue. _Is she okay?_ Wishing he was there.

And back in Tokyo, Kyoko bit her lip. She had shed tears earlier, in front of Sho, hadn't she? That should've been enough, shouldn't it?

"Mogami-san…"

"Ah," Kyoko responded. "I'm fine. It was just…a very long day."

_This won't be enough,_ Ren thought, staring up at his ceiling in frustration. _Did the President plan this? That after having her by my side…_

Against his ear, he heard Kyoko utter a shaky sigh. _That I wouldn't be able to stand being apart from her._

"But the filming was a big success! Afterwards the director treated everyone to drinks."

"Did you drink, Mogami-san?"

Kyoko sat straight up in bed, utter horror spelled across her face. "Tsuruga-san!" Ren smiled as he pictured her perfectly. "I would never!"

"I know," he replied easily. "I was just teasing you. Did you have a good time?"

Kyoko lied back in bed, thinking about Kijima's weird looks and Sho's…

"Mogami-san?" Ren called out to her.

"Un," Kyoko replied, willing herself not to think about Sho, her eyebrow twitching. _I couldn't stand to hear Tsuruga-san's disappointment that I didn't push Shotaro away at every moment._ "Yes, I had a good time," her somber voice betraying her words.

Ren frowned, but didn't know how to press further. "Well, I'm glad you had a good time. It's important to connect with your costars."

Deciding to get into kohai mode, Kyoko closed her eyes and smiled into the phone. Her tears slid across her temples into her hair, onto the phone's screen, now slippery against her ear. "Un," she replied as steadily as she could before letting out a breath. "Though that's not something that," Kyoko's voice dropped to a bare whisper, "_Cain Heel_ should be telling me," joked Kyoko.

Ren considered handing the reins over to Cain to defend himself, but didn't want to risk scaring off Kyoko when he couldn't even see her. "It's Cain's job to scare his coworkers. Playing nice would be counterproductive."

"Hmm," Kyoko replied doubtfully, thinking of Cain's accidental "playing-nice" with the hamster-girl. Like Ren, she considered handing the reins over to Setsu to retort. And like Ren, she decided it was too great a risk.

Kyoko yawned quietly.

"Mogami-san," Ren called, closing his eyes. "I'm going to be back in Tokyo tomorrow."

"Hai."

"Mogami-san," again, this time a bit unsure, "what…is your schedule like tomorrow night?"

"Tomorrow night?"

"Yes. Please."

Kyoko paused. "I'm done with my work at 4 o'clock tomorrow. What time will you be free-?"

"Four o'clock."

She paused again, suspicious. "Really?"

"Ah, yes," Ren tried to chuckle despite being unsure of himself, "what a coincidence! I have to record for an interview once I'm back in Tokyo tomorrow, but I should be free by four." He swallowed, hopefully silently, and sent his apologies to Yashiro.

"Well, I'm sure you'll be tired after all of your traveling, so if you want to retire early—" Kyoko offered, suddenly unsure about whether she wanted to see him soon or delay their meeting until she could talk herself out of some of the things she'd been thinking today.

"It will be just fine. I won't be tired until late, anyways, and I…want to talk to you about something."

"Okay, Tsuruga-san." Kyoko whispered above her pounding heartbeat.

Across the ocean, Ren covered his eyes with his free arm. "Good night, Mogami-san."

"Good night, Tsuruga-san."

And they both closed their phones, and closed their eyes, and could not fall asleep for a long time.

* * *

**Alright, finally done with Day Two. **

**I'm sorry that I had to usher Saena out without much explanation. There are a lot of theories about why she's as awful a mother as she is, but in the end, I regretted bringing her into the picture-especially when I couldn't have Ren fly back just to comfort Kyoko (because why else would I want to torture Kyoko? I'm just as bad as Kuu when he was trying to bully Kyoko so Ren would come a-knockin'). **

**I think I might stick to one-shots for a little while after this story, because then I can focus on KyokoxRen fluff and not have to worry about how anything will get resolved. And if I do write another chapterfic, I'm going to try to make it detached from the canon storyline. Every time a new chapter came out I was worried that after reading it I'd think, "Argh! Why didn't I think of that? Nakamura-sensei, I'm so sorry for trying to write a fanfiction about how I'd resolve this arc...uwuuuu..."**

**I know what I want to do in the next few chapters, but I'm as nervous as Kyoko about them having dinner tomorrow night. I just want fluff. I'm not ready for the truth to be revealed. In the past week I read the 33 volumes of Skip Beat I could get from my library and I realized that, while it is a slow-moving story, I do NOT want it to end anytime soon. Nakamura-sensei, please keep taking your time! This is just Act 1 of their love story, right? Who is Mr. D that Chiori was talking about? Did Kuon know him? What were Kuon's acting experiences in the US like? Will Kyoko get that handsome male manager after all? Will it be Tsuruga-san? (lol)**

**Anyways, thank you for reading this chapter!**


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